Hurt makes case for re-election, urges supporters to get to polls

Fifth District Congressman Robert Hurt visited South Boston GOP headquarters yesterday morning to thank his supporters for their work leading up to the Tuesday election. (SOMcL photo)

SoVaNow.com / November 01, 2012

Fifth District Congressman Robert Hurt made an early morning visit to town yesterday to thank supporters and urge them to get like-minded voters to the polls on Tuesday.

Addressing a gathering of about 30 at Republican headquarters in South Boston, State Senator Frank Ruff, who introduced Hurt, stressed the importance of re-electing Hurt to Congress and sending GOP candidates George Allen to the U.S. Senate and Mitt Romney to the White House.

Comparing the threesome to parts of a bicycle, Ruff said there is a great need for people who can work together in Washington to get things done. Like a bicycle, said Ruff, Congress and the White House cannot function property without two wheels — the House and Senate in his metaphor — moving together and the president — serving as the handlebars — providing the guidance.

In his remarks, Hurt highlighted his work to foster job creation and curb the costs of energy, noting that the price of oil has doubled over the past four years. (Oil prices briefly dropped below $2 during the 2008 financial crisis before rising to current levels). Hurt also stressed the need for a balanced federal budget as well as his support for eliminating federal regulatory agencies which, on the whole, he said achieve little good for businesses or farmers.

Talking about jobs, Hurt pointed to the situation in Martinsville, a part of the Fifth Distruct, which has led the state in unemployment for more than a year with double digit employment.

“Imagine that one of every six people cannot find work there,” he said. “That is unacceptable.”

Hurt, a first-term Republican from Chatham, is being challenged by Democrat John Douglass of Fauquier County, a retired Air Force Brigadier General.